If you’re a freelancer or small business owner you should check this out. It’s a great talk by Mike Monteiro, Design Director and co-founder of Mule Design Studio, on the benefits of having a contract. It was filmed on March 25th, 2011, as part of the Creative Mornings (San Francisco) sessions. There’s a followup blog post, here.

This talk is specific to the design industry, but it’s good advice for everyone.

Wondercon 2011 took place this past weekend in San Francisco, just 1 block from my house. Now I’m wishing I had gone. :(

If you watch closely at about 4:09 in this video you’ll catch a glimpse of Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark). I swear that woman doesn’t age. She looks exactly the same as she did when I was a kid.

]]>http://www.onedigitallife.com/2011/04/08/wondercon-2011-costumes/feed/0San Francisco Board of Supervisors Meeting Regarding GGNRA Ban of Off-Leash Dog Walkinghttp://www.onedigitallife.com/2011/03/09/ggnra-board-of-supervisors-meeting/
http://www.onedigitallife.com/2011/03/09/ggnra-board-of-supervisors-meeting/#commentsThu, 10 Mar 2011 00:54:27 +0000http://www.onedigitallife.com/?p=2416As a followup to my post the other day concerning the potential loss of off-leash dog walking in parks and beaches maintained by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), I wanted to mention that there’s a San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting tomorrow night (3/10/2011). Item #2 on their agenda deals with the proposed GGNRA plan. I encourage all Bay Area dog-lovers to attend and show your support.

March 10th, 2011
Board of Supervisors Meeting (5:30pm)
San Francisco City Hall, Room #408
GGNRA item is second on the agenda (probably starting around 6:30pm)

I moved to San Francisco in 2003, and I’ve always taken our dogs to Fort Funston – a wonderful off-leash beach about 20 minutes away from our house. The picture (above) is our dog, Maggie Moo, enjoying some time on the beach.

Although San Francisco is generally fairly dog friendly, there actually aren’t that many off-leash areas, especially close to the city, so we really treasure Fort Funston.

On January 14th, 2011, the National Park Service released a massive 2,400 page draft Dog Management Plan for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) for public review. Basically, this proposed plan aims to severely restrict dog walking and eliminate off-leash areas within the GGNRA, including Fort Funston, Ocean Beach, Crissy Field, the Marin Headlands, Muir Beach, Sweeney Ridge, Baker Beach, Mori Point, Lands End, and other locations that have welcomed dogs for decades.

As a dog lover, who only has a limited number of off-leash areas available, the prospect of this plan passing is extremely disturbing. Currently, dogs are only allowed in about 1% of the GGNRA, so it’s absolutely astounding to me that they’re looking to take most (or all) of these areas away from us.

The draft-plan was originally released for a 90 day public review and comment period, which has now been extended to May 29, 2011. I strongly encourage all dog owners to get involved and voice your concern over this proposition. Basically, speak now or forever hold your leash.

I’ve included links below for the draft plan, maps, and other helpful information. I also encourage everyone to show your support by attending one of the public rallys / meetings.

]]>http://www.onedigitallife.com/2011/03/06/save-off-leash-dog-walking-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area/feed/0TUAW is offering cheap Macworld 2011 passeshttp://www.onedigitallife.com/2011/01/12/tuaw-is-offering-cheap-macworld-2011-passes/
http://www.onedigitallife.com/2011/01/12/tuaw-is-offering-cheap-macworld-2011-passes/#commentsWed, 12 Jan 2011 21:46:22 +0000http://www.onedigitallife.com/?p=2250Macworld 2011 will take place here in San Francisco in just a couple weeks (1/26 – 1/29). If you don’t already have tickets, TUAW is offering $15 Expo-only passes, or 10% off the price of the conference registration.

I’ve never actually attended to conference sessions, but I always enjoy going to the Expo.

Axis Maps is custom cartography company located in Hewitt, Texas. Among a variety of other services, they’ve also made some super-cool maps made entirely of type. They’ve had typographic maps for Boston and Chicago, and they just recently released one for San Francisco. It looks very cool!

The map is available through Zazzle.com. There’s four sizes to choose from, ranging from 16″ x 11″ ($14.95) to a colossal 78″ x 52″ ($195.25).

It’s that time of year again. This Saturday (3/14), The Brides of March will be hitting the streets of San Francisco. It’s a must-see if you live in the Bay Area. Check the site for meeting time and locations.

For a long time now I’ve been a big fan of the photographic work of Natalie Dybisz, better known on the internet as, Miss Aniela (pronounced ‘Ann-yella’). She’s a fine-art photographer based in South East UK, who originally received a lot of notoriety on Flickr for her self-portraitrs. She took multiple shots of herself in the same space and then combined them. Since then she’s primarily stayed in the self-portrait genre, but has expanded her work quite a bit.

I just read on her blog that she’s coming to Seattle (Jan 31st), San Francisco (Feb 2rd & 3rd), and Los Angeles (Feb 4th), and she’s inviting all who want to come, to a studio shoot and some photowalks. She’s posted her full schedule, here. Although I’m not normally one for group photography, I’m going to try and make one of the photowalks here in San Francisco. It would be great to get the opportunity to meet her.

If you live in the Bay Area, and you’re into photography, you should try to make it out. Maybe I’ll even see you there.

The gas station on the corner by our house is selling gas for $1.83 per gallon. It seems like just a few months ago that it was pushing $5 per gallon here in San Francisco. It boggles my mind that the price could drop so quickly. Of course, it also boggled my mind listening to the oil companies say they had to raise prices due to supply, at the same time they were posting all-time record profits (scum suckers).

As much as it annoyed me that it took almost $50 to fill up our little Toyota Echo, I actually thought high gas prices were a good thing. I felt bad for those people who legitimately had to drive large vehicles long distances, but I think it made most people re-evaluate their driving habits. People began to realize they could actually drive less, take public transportation, carpool, and possibly even walk occasionally (heaven forbid). They also started to reconsider what kind of car they may buy next time around.

I’m a little worried that people tend to have very short memories. Falling gas prices may mean that many people go back to their same old bad habits. I hope not.